Inductions recall the Spurs’ glorious era
If it’s a mid-august Saturday, that means more San Antonio Spurs will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. This year, coach Gregg “Pop” Popovich and guard Tony Parker will be enshrined, as will WNBA superstar and former Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon.
Another 2023 inductee, Pau Gasol, spent his last two seasons playing for the Spurs but will be inducted for his time with the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers.
This year’s ceremony completes the Hall of Fame recognition for the core responsible for the Spurs winning four of their five NBA titles — Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Parker and Popovich.
Only Duncan and Pop were there for all five titles. Ginobili was inducted in 2022 and Duncan in 2020. Their enshrinement was preceded by two other legends, David Robinson in 2009 and George Gervin in 1996.
Pop, the winningest coach in NBA history and one of the greatest of all-time in any sport, would have been inducted years ago had he allowed his name to be put forward.
That he would have the cachet to decide when he’d go into the Hall of Fame could not have been predicted when he became the Spurs head coach in 1996. But under him, the Spurs became the North American professional sports team with the highest winning percentage over the past three decades and one of the NBA’S greatest dynasties.
Parker, who came to San Antonio as a 19-year-old from France, was the quicksilver engine for that dynasty, ending his race toward the basket with his signature spin move and teardrop shot. One-third of the Big Three along with Duncan and Ginobili, Parker was a six-time NBA All-star and the MVP of the 2007 NBA Finals.
Hammon was an All-star and one
of the faces of the WNBA when she was traded by the New York Liberty to the San Antonio Silver Stars (now the Las Vegas Aces) in 2007, where she continued to be an All-star. She’s going into the Hall of Fame as a player, but one day she’ll also go in as a coach.
She was an assistant coach under Pop from 2014-2022, the first woman in league history to hold that position. In 2020, when Pop was ejected, Hammon became the first woman to serve as head coach during an NBA regular-season game; last year, in her first year as head coach, she led the Aces to the WNBA title. And she may one day become the first female head coach in the NBA.
The past few years have been difficult ones for the Spurs and their fans. Today’s induction ceremonies allow Spurs fans to relive the best years of the team’s 50 years in San Antonio. It comes with new hopes of more championships as the era of Victor Wembanyama begins.
Hall of Fame inductions for members of the San Antonio Spurs have been frequent lately, but with the exceptions of future Hall of Famers with Spurs connections, such as Steve Kerr and Kawhi Leonard, it may be a while before we see another Spur inducted. That may be Wembanyama or one of his future teammates.
Today is the end of one glorious Spurs era. This season is the beginning of what we hope will be a new one just as glorious.
A dynasty is celebrated as — fans hope — a new one begins